Offensive lineman Dorian Miller of Metuchen High, who signed to play for Rutgers on Wednesday, was the state's highest-ranked recruit (at No. 9) to choose the Scarlet Knights.
(Photo by Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

Kyle Flood was more concerned about filling needs than impressing any talent experts, and his first recruiting class as Rutgers’ head coach reflects that.

Viewed from a need-based perspective, Flood made several areas of concern a lot less worrisome with the 22-player class that officially signed with the Scarlet Knights today.

Running back? Check. Cornerback? Check. Linebacker? Check. A potential wide receiver star of the future and a difference-maker in the offensive line? Check those off as well.
“I feel very good that we filled all of the needs I set out before we got into this class,” Flood said a press conference on campus to officially announce the new recruits, five of whom are mid-year enrollees already taking classes. “What I’m most excited about is I feel we are a bigger, faster team going forward because of this recruiting class.”

The national class rankings range from “about No. 30 (Tom Lemming of Max Preps and CBS Sports),” to No. 33 (Scout.com) to No. 36 (ESPN.com) to No. 42 (Rivals.com) to No. 47 (247 Sports). Compared to other Big Ten schools, which will be the case a year from now for Rutgers, this class ranks mid-pack: No. 5 by Scout.com and No. 7 by Rivals.com and ESPN.com.

“If you look at the four-star guys from New Jersey, only two of them committed to Rutgers – (cornerback) Nadir Barnwell and (offensive lineman) Dorian Miller,” said Scott Kennedy, the national director of scouting for Scout.com. “That’s a little concerning.”

“I wouldn’t get too high or low about it. It’s a solid class,” said Mike Farrell, the national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com

Compared to last year’s recruiting class, one Flood held together 48 hours after being named head coach, this one lacks the star power of the 2012 group, the highest-rated in school history. Darius Hamilton, a five-star recruit, headed that class.

Miller, at No. 9 in the state according to Scout.com, is the highest rated player Rutgers landed in New Jersey after getting the state’s top recruit (Savon Huggins and Hamilton) in each of the past two years.

Depending on the recruiting services, this class has two four-star players at the top. Most of the others are three-star guys, and Flood said he’s fine with that.

“The rankings and the stars don’t have an impact on us,” he said. “We certainly track a lot of things as college coaches. But if you go back and look at the 2005 recruiting class, I want to say that 15 of the recruits in that class were two-stars and we ultimately had eight players play in the NFL from that class.

“So I think the rankings, they can skew what’s really important. What’s really important are finding the players that are right for your program. That is so much more than anything a player could be ranked.”

In Delon Stephenson and Barnwell, Flood appears to have found immediate help at the depleted corner spots. In Dontea Ayres and Justin Goodwin, he has more to choose from in finding a back-up tailback to Savon Huggins.

Miller will push for playing time on the offensive line shortly based on his credentials, Lester Liston offers immediate help at linebacker after a year in prep school and wide receiver Andre Patton was the No. 1 player in the state of Delaware.